Faithful Familiars was such an important project for me.

It was the first time I really saw and understood that the strange little ideas living in my head could be useful to other people. Players and Game Masters connected with the idea, supported the Kickstarter, and helped it reach its goal in only 45 minutes. By the end of the campaign, it had raised more than eleven times its original goal.

The numbers were exciting, of course, but the part that stayed with me was what they represented. Something I had imagined for my own games had reached other people. They saw value in it, wanted to bring it to their own tables and make it part of stories I would never get to hear in full.

That experience changed how I looked at my creativity and what I believed Storm Cat could become.

✧ The Book That Changed Things

Faithful Familiars came from a place of genuine love.

I have always adored the small creatures who travel beside our characters, cause trouble at exactly the wrong moment, stumble across an important clue, or become one of the most memorable members of an adventuring party.

I wanted familiars to feel like more than a spell, a statblock, or a useful collection of abilities. I wanted them to feel like companions with histories, personalities, peculiar habits, and room to grow alongside the adventurers who love them.

That idea grew into reimagined familiars with individual lore, adoptable backstories, roleplaying guidance, magical items, worldbuilding ideas, and a dynamic levelling system. It also became Faela’s sanctuary: a cozy place full of books, gardens, magical creatures, and new stories waiting to begin.

The book is filled with things I still love. I’m proud of its ideas, the original illustrations, the care that went into making each familiar feel like someone a player could genuinely become attached to.

That is exactly why I want to take care of it now.

✧ Revisiting Old Projects

I have learned a great deal about illustration and design since Faithful Familiars was first released in 2024.

My artwork has become softer, simpler, and more confident. I understand spacing and visual hierarchy better. I also have a clearer sense of what I want Storm Cat Studios to be: a home for creations made for adventurers, storytellers, and lorekeepers.

With that growth comes the slightly uncomfortable experience of looking back at older work with new eyes.

And we can be honest: visually, Faithful Familiars needs a little TLC.

Some pages are crowded, the text is smaller than it needs to be, the heavier colours and borders can make sections feel murky, and useful ideas sometimes disappear inside large blocks of text. The heart of the book is there, but the presentation does not always give it enough room to shine.

That doesn’t mean the original project was bad, and it certainly doesn’t mean I’m ashamed of it. I made the best book I could with the skills I had at the time and then I kept learning.

I think that is one of the stranger parts of creating anything. You can be deeply proud of what you made and still see all the ways you would approach it differently now. Growth gives you new skills, but it also gives you new eyes.

✧ Somethings Never Feels Finished

Creative work has a way of never feeling completely done. There is always a sentence you could adjust, a colour you could soften, or an illustration you might draw differently today.

That feeling can be especially complicated for me because of my OCD. For me, it isn’t simply a desire to make everything perfect. My brain can convince me that if I make the wrong choice or overlook a problem, someone will be deeply upset, inconvenienced, or somehow even harmed, and that it will be my fault.

That fear also connects with one of the deepest insecurities I carry from C-PTSD: the fear of being a burden or making someone else’s life harder. When those thoughts attach themselves to something I’ve created, a reasonable concern can begin to feel like an urgent responsibility. Improving one genuine design issue can quickly become an endless attempt to anticipate every possible problem and make the work completely safe from disappointing anyone.

I’m learning to recognize the difference between caring for my work and responding to fear. This revamp is something I genuinely believe will make Faithful Familiars easier and more enjoyable to use. It doesn’t need to become an attempt to eliminate every possible flaw or guarantee that no one could ever be unhappy with it.

I don’t want this revamp to become that.

The goal is not to erase the original book, redraw every illustration, or chase perfection. It is to give an important project a thoughtful and clearly defined update. I can improve its readability, bring its presentation closer to my developing style, and then allow it to be complete again.

Revisiting an older project does not have to mean rejecting the person who first created it. I can appreciate what past me made, recognize what present me has learned, and let both of those things exist together.

Sometimes loving what you create means knowing when it needs more care. Sometimes it also means knowing when to put the pencil down.

✧ What Is Actually Changing?

Faithful Familiars is not becoming a completely different book. The original content, creatures, illustrations, dynamic leveling system, and personality are staying.

The refreshed design will include:

• A lighter, softer colour palette
• Clearer headings and sections
• Larger, more comfortable text
• More breathing room between ideas
• Cleaner and more consistent familiar pages
• Small illustrated icons for tips, examples, lore, mechanics, and story prompts
• Updated Storm Cat Studios branding

The familiar pages will still feel familiar. The illustrations will still be mine. Faela’s sanctuary will still be waiting for new visitors. The difference is that the design surrounding those things will be crisper, clearer, and better able to support them.

This update also reflects the direction my art has been moving. My work is becoming more recognizably mine: gentle, slightly imperfect, inspired by nature, and full of curious little creatures. I want the book surrounding that artwork to carry the same warmth and clarity.

The heart of Faithful Familiars has not changed. I’m simply building it a better home.